Electrical connectors

ABSTRACT

A connector comprised of a body member formed with a longitudinal slot along the upper surface thereof for receiving a circuit card. A plurality of contact elements, arranged in sets of four, are disposed within the body member along the longitudinal slot. In each set of contact elements the upper portions of two of the elements are disposed to form a pair of adjacent coplanar contacts accessible on one side of the longitudinal slot, the upper portions of the other two of the elements are disposed to form an opposing pair of adjacent coplanar contacts accessible on the other side of the longitudinal slot, and the lower portions of the four elements are disposed so as to form four contacts accessible on the lower surface of the body member in openings formed therein so as to be aligned in a direction transverse to the longitudinal slot.

I United States Patent 1 ,6 0,803 Cooney 1 May 2, 1972 [54] ELECTRICALCONNECTORS FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Inventor: Frank E. Cooney,Manhattan Beach Cam.- 885,040 l2/l96l Great Britain ..339/l76 MP [73]Assignee: The National Cash Register Company, Primary Examiner-Marvin A.Champion Dayton, Ohio Assistant E.\-aminerLawrence J. Staab [22] Filed:0c. 8, 1969 Attorney-Louis A. Kline and Joseph R. Dwyer [2l] Appl. No.:864,591 [57] ABSTRACT A connector comprised of a body member formed witha lon- [52] US. Cl ..339/ 176 MP, 339/17 LM gitudinal slot along theupper surface thereof for receiving a [5 1] Int. Cl. ..H05k 1/07 circuitcard. A plurality of contact elements, arranged in sets Field Of Search17 l7 L 7 of four, are disposed within the body member along the lon- 3/l M. 7 M 176 M 1 2. 7 S gitudinal slot. in each set of contact elementsthe upper portions of two of the elements are disposed to form a pair ofad- References Cited jacent coplanar contacts accessible on one side ofthe longitudinal slot, the upper portions of the other two of theelements UNITED STATES PATENTS are disposed to form an opposing pair ofadjacent coplanar 2,911,612 11/1959 Jackson et al. ..339/176 con cts cesi le n h her i of the l ng slot, 2,946,033 7/ I960 Wirth ....339/ l 7and the lower portions of the four elements are disposed so as 3,l60,455l2/l964 Mayon et al ....339/l7 to form four contacts accessible on thelower surface of the 3,188,598 6/ l 965 Pferd ..339/1 7 body member inopenings formed therein so as to be aligned in WAY/[l2 a directiontransverse to the longitudinal slot.

2 Claims, 1 1 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHAY 2 m2 3. 660, 8 O3 SHEET m 4INVENTOR FRANK E. COONEY aY al ms ATNEYS PATENTEDMY 21972 3,660,803

SHEET 2 0F 4 INVENTOR FRANK E. COONEY lslm- 52m W mau- BY may J @Z. 7153b 3 ms ARNEYS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention isdirected to connectors for printed circuit cards and more particularlyrelates to adaptor type connectors which provide for connecting printedcircuit cards to closely spaced contacts provided on associatedequipment.

Since the widespread use of printed circuitry and modular electronicunits, a wide variety of connectors have been provided forinterconnecting printed circuit cards supporting electronic componentselectrically connected by thin conductor foil adherent to the printedcircuit cards. The modular electronic units are essentially buildingblocks for electronic devices such as computers and other like devices.By interconnecting the modular units in a certain logical order acomplete electronic system may be constructed. Since the modular unitshave a high packaging density, the printed circuit cards on which themodules are mounted must be packaged with a correspondingly high densityin order to interconnect the modules efficiently and to provide powerand ground potential to them. Furthermore, in order to achieve highcircuit speeds on the order of l to 2 nanoseconds in a circuit made uplargely or entirely of integrated or hybrid integrated circuit modulesand associated components, there is a strong dependency not only in thespeed of the module itself but even more so in the manner in which themodules are interconnected. Since electric signals travel approximatelyone foot in one nanosecond it is readily seen that the manner ofinterconnecting the modules to associated equipment contributesmaterially to the circuit speeds and indeed may be the limiting factor.

The features and advantages of the connectors of the present inventioncan be appreciated by discussing the problems encountered in providingconnectors for electronic computer equipment such as a memory stackcomprised of a plurality of memory planes, for example. In suchequipment, the terminal pins provided in a row along the edge of each ofthe planes in the stack are so closely spaced that the adjacentpositioning of typical single or dual readout connectors for mating withthe terminal pins in-each row only allows printed circuit cards to beinserted into the connectors on the memory stack on .200 centers, forexample, which is not sufficient for certain components to be assembledonto the circuit boards without interfering with the positioning of theadjacent circuit boards. Furthermore, when a plurality of the circuitboards are too closely positioned, in an assembly, it is difficult todirect cooling air through the assembly. Accordingly, in order toprovide for connecting printed circuit cards to such equipment,intermediate card connectors are usually provided between headersconnected to the tenninal pins in the memory stacks and the printedcircuit cards to facilitate increased spacing of the circuit cards. Suchan arrangement requires a plurality of intermediate card connectors,each provided with a set of terminal pins, to be soldered on each of theprinted circuit cards in a position normal to the plane thereof. Eachprinted circuit card is then positioned so that one of its cardconnectors is plugged into each of the headers associated with therespective memory stacks. Additional intermediate card connectors areprovided on each circuit card for connecting the card to input andoutput jumper boards. In order to replace a defective header or portionof a memory stack when using this arrangement it is necessary to removeall of the cards with their associated card connectors from theassembled memory stacks. This results in a time consuming and expensiveprocedure with regard to the maintenance and operation of the memorystack. Furthermore, since each printed circuit card is required to beconnected by its intermediate card connectors into a plurality ofheaders associated with the plurality of memory stacks, the problemarises that the headers might be relatively misaligned therebypreventing the intermediate card connectors from being inserted into theheaders and raising the probability of damage to the printed circuitcard in the event it is forced into the headers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention relates specifically to circuitconnectors which are adapted to connect closely spaced contacts ofassociated equipment to printed circuit cards having conductor foil onboth sides of the cards thereby enabling the circuit cards to beinserted into adjacently positioned connectors with sufficient spacingbetween the card surfaces to permit modular components to be mountedthereon. The connector enables the printed circuit cards to be connectedto closely spaced pins on the associated equipment without the use ofintermediate card connectors. This improves maintenance andaccessibility of the memory stack and of the circuit connector itself.For each printed circuit card, a single connector is utilizedwhichengages, for example, two memory stacks comprising eight memory planeseach and an input and output jumper board. The printed circuit cardengages the circuit connector without any misalignment problems sinceeach card engages only one circuit connector which in turn engagesseveral memory stacks.

More particularly, the circuit connector of the present inventioncomprises a body member provided with a longitudinal slot on the uppersurface thereof in which a printed circuit card is inserted such thatthe upper portions of first and second opposing pairs of contactsprovided on opposite sides of the longitudinal slot engagecorrespondingly positioned pairs of terminal tabs on either side of thecard, while the lower portions of the first and second opposing pairs ofcontacts are linearly aligned in a direction transverse to thelongitudinal slot for engagement with parallel rows of four terminalpins provided on each of the memory planes of the memory stack and eachof the input and output interconnecting jumper boards. The inherentadvantage of this method is that an assembly of adjacently positionedconnectors are able to contact the terminals of the memory stack withoutthe circuit cards inserted in the slots of the connectors being asclosely spaced as required previously thus making it possible to providemore circuitry on the printed circuit card thereby allowing a higherpackaging density and a faster data processing system performance.

These features as well as other features and advantages of the presentinvention are more specifically described in the following detaileddescription and drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of an electronic assemblyutilizing the connectors of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing how the connector of thepresent invention provides for interconnecting a pluggable circuit cardto an array of terminal pins provided in the assembly.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the connector of the presentinvention taken generally along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view looking up under the connectorand showing a set of four contact elements positioned for assembly intoopenings provided in the body thereof;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the connector showing the contact elementsassembled in the body thereof; 7

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a pair of the contact elements shown inFIG. 5 disposed with their contact surfaces in coplanar relationship;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the connector of thepresent invention showing the contact elements assembled in the bodythereof;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a pair of the contact elements shown inFIG. 7 disposed with their contact surfaces in coplanar relationship; 1

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of still another embodiment of the connectorof the present invention showing the contact elements assembled in thebody thereof;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a pair of the contact elements shown inFIG. 9 disposed with their contact surfaces in a coplanar relationship;and

sor section of a data processing system, for example. This section isshown to include a plurality of printed circuit cards such asprintedcircuit card 11 with typical electronic components l4 and 17 mounted onthe surface thereof. Further, card 1 1 has terminal tabs 13 printed onboth sides of the lower edge thereof. A plurality of the circuitconnectors 20 of the present invention are positioned side-by-side andsecurely held together on a mounting frame 53 by tie-rods 19 passingthrough openings 12 provided at spaced locations along the sides of theconnectors. A laminated spacer 50 is used to insulate the connectorsfrom the mounting frame. Each connector is formed of a body member 18which is preferably moulded of a high impact plastic. A card 11 isinserted along a longitudinal slot 21 provided along the upper end ofthe body member 18 of each connector 20.

As shown in the assembly of FIG. 1, the lower end of the body member ofeach connector 20 engages two memory stacks 60 on an intermediateportion thereof and interconnecting jumper boards 35 and 41 on the leftand right portions thereof. The memory stacks 60 are mounted in thespacing between mounting frames 56. As shown, the planes of the memorystacks 60 and the jumper boards 35 and 41 are disposed in a directionnormal to the planes of the cards 11. Each of the memory stacks 60 iscomprised of eight adjacently positioned memory planes 61 and eachmemory plane has a row of closely spaced terminal pins 63 on the upperend thereof. Connectors 20 are positioned over the memory stack terminalpins 63 and serve to make contact between terminal pins 63 and theelectronic components 14 and 17 mounted on the printed circuit cards 11.

interconnecting jumper board 41 is used as a power entry point for thesection of the data processing system that is shown in FIG. 1. Thisjumper board which is of printed circuit board construction has powerbusses 44 mounted on the bottom side thereof which are electricallyconnected to the rows of terminal pins 42 positioned on its upper side,as shown in FIG. 2. Terminals 47 (FIG. 1) are used to transfer the powerfrom a data processing system power supply to the power busses 44 of theinterconnecting jumper board 41 which in turn is connected through theterminal pins 42 shown in FIG. 2 to the contacts in slots 22 ofconnectors 20 which are disposed to receive the terminal tabs 13 on theedge of the printed circuit cards 11.

The interconnecting jumper board 35 is used as a signaltake-off boardand is also of printed circuit board construction with rows of terminalpins.(not shown) on the upper side of the board which are connected byconnectors 20 to the terminal tabs 13 provided on the lower edges of theprinted circuit cards 11. Flat cable 26 terminates in flat cableconnector 23 and represents the means by which the signal is taken outand routed through the remainder of the processor section of the dataprocessing system. 'Flat cable 26 is positioned between cable guide 29and mounting frame 53 by the use of insulating spacers 32.

Turning now to FIG. 2, the side edge of the printed circuit card 11 isguided by side slot 22 on the ends of the body member 18 of connector 20such that the lower end of the circuit card 13 provided with theterminal tabs 13 can be inserted into longitudinal slot 21 formed alongthe upper surface of body member 18 of connector 20. When so positionedthe lower end of the circuit card 11 engages the contact surfaces of thelooped ends 78 and 98 of the contact elements 70 and 90 provided on thesides of slot 21. Contact elements 70 and 90 are made from a highlyconductive material which may typically be beryllium copper. Shown inposition below the connector 20 is interconnecting jumper board 41 whichhas rows of terminal pins 42 extending upward therefrom. The jumperboard 41 is mounted on the lower end of each connector, by a set of fourof the pins 42 engaging four transversely aligned pin receiving portionscomprised of two of the elements 70 and two of the elements 90 as willbe more clearly explained in the ensuing description. Positioned belowconnector 20 adjacent interconnecting jumper board 41 is the associatedelectronic equipment such as the memory stacks 60 to which the printedcircuit cards 11 are to be electrically connected by way of theconnector of the present invention. In FIG. 2, three of the memoryplanes 6] of one of the memory stacks 60 is shown with their rows ofterminal pins 63 extending upwards therefrom. The rows are disposed suchthat four of the pins in each of the rows can be inserted into four ofthe aligned pin receiving portions of contact elements 70 and providedin each of the transverse rows of openings along the bottom side of eachof the connectors 20.

In FIG. 3 there is shown a sectional view of the connector 20 andcontact elements taken generally along line 3-3 of FIG. 2. The loopedends 78 and 98 of contact elements 70 and 90 are shown but only the pinreceiving portions 70b of the contact elements 70 are shown since theyare positioned within the inner openings 66 provided in the body member18 of connector 20 adjacent to the plane of longitudinal slot 21. Thus,interconnecting jumper board 41 is shown in FIG. 3 with terminal pins 42extending upward therefrom and engaging the pin receiving portions 70!:of the contact elements 70. Likewise, the memory planes 61 of memorystacks 60 are shown with their memory stack terminal pins 63 extendingupward into the pin receiving portions 70b of contact elements 70.

The pin receiving portion 70b of contact element 70' engages memorystack pin 63 in the following manner. Pin centering tabs 71 and 72 areutilized such that memory stack terminal pin 63 properly engages contactelement 70 and prevents any wobble of the terminal pin 63 in the contactelement 70. Spring fingers 73 and 74 are resiliently biased such thatwhen terminal pin 63 is pushed up between them a good electrical contactis made. Tongue-like spring portion 75, which may also be provided onthe front side of pin 63 as well as the back side shown, is used in thedual function of a centering element, as are tabs .71 and 72, and alsoof a pin contacting element, as are spring fingers 73 and 74. Analignment guide extension 76, as shown in FIG. 4 is used to position andmaintain the contact element 70 within opening 66 extending into thebody of the connector 20 from the bottom thereof. The circuit cardengaging portion 70a of contact element 70 is narrower than its pinreceiving portion 70b and has a straight ex tension 77 which extendsupward from the pin receiving portion 70b on one side of the element.Extension 77 tenninates in a looped end 78, more clearly shown in FIG.6, which provides a resilient connection between the contact element 70and the circuit card 11.

In FIG. 4 connector 20 is shown with a pair of contact elements 70 and apair of contact elements 90 of the present invention disposed with theirbase areas or pin receiving portions 70b and 90b aligned for insertioninto inner openings 66 and outer openings 69 provided on the bottom ofconnector strip 20. It should be noted that pin receiving portions 90bare located in the outer positions on either side of the pin receivingportions 701). The upper portions of the four contact elements extendupwards to form opposing rows of spaced contacts which extend in adirection perpendicular to the aligned .base direction. The upperportions or card engaging portions 70a and 90a of two of the contactelements 70 and 90 engage one side of the printed circuit card 11 shownin FIG. 1 and the card engaging portions 70a and 90a of the other two ofthe contact elements 70 and 90 engage the other side of the printedcircuit card 11. It should now be evident that by the arrangement of thepresent invention a large number of contact elements can be provided ina very small area in the connector 20.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown a sectional end view ofconnector 20 wherein contact elements 70 are mounted in the inneropenings 66 and contact elements 90 are mounted in the outer openings 69provided on the bottom of the body member 18 of connector 20 such thatthe base portions of the contact elements are aligned in one direction.The upper portions of the contact elements 70 and 90 are arranged oneither side of the longitudinal slot 21 which extends in a directionperpendicular to the arrangement of the base portions and it can be seenthat printed circuit card 11 inserted in slot 21 between the rows ofcontact elements resides in a direction perpendicular to the directionof the base portions of the contact elements.

FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of a pair of the contact elements shownin FIG. 5, as they are positioned in the body member 18 of connector 20with their circuit card engaging portions 70a and 90a aligned in acoplanar relationship. The contact element 70 has previously beendescribed in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4. In the pin receiving portion90b of angular contact element 90, pin centering tabs 91 and 92 serve tocenter the terminal pins of the interconnecting jumper board or memoryframe that is being presented to the contact elements. These tabs allowthe terminal pins to properly engage the contact element 90 and toprevent any wobble of the conductor pins in the contact element 90.Spring fingers 93 and 94 are resiliently biased such that when therespective conductor pin is pushed up between them a good electricalcontact is made. Tongue-like spring portion 95 is used in the dualfunction of a centering element as are tabs 91 and 92 and also of a pinengaging element as are spring finger 93 and 94.

An alignment guide extension 96 is used to position and maintain thecontact element 90 within the opening 69 of the connector strip 20 asshown in FIG. 5. The circuit card engaging portion 900 of contactelement 90 has an angular extension 97 which is narrower than its pinreceiving portion 90b and extends upward from portion 90b on the side ofthe element opposite to the side from portion 70a on element 70.Extension 97 terminates in a looped end 98 which provides a resilientconnection between the contact element 90 and circuit card 11. Thislooped end 98 is a resilient part of the circuit card engaging portion901: of contact element 90 that is folded over and is so formed andstressed that when a card is inserted into the connector strip 20 itbears against the card with considerable mechanical pressure to providefor good electrical contact.

As previously discussed, contact elements 70 and 90 are inserted intothe respective bottom inner openings 66 and outer openings 69 of thebody member 18. Since contact element 70 is provided with a straightextension 77 for its looped end 78, it is readily inserted into theopening 66 provided on either side of central separator provided in thebody member of the connector. However, since contact element 90 isprovided with an angular extension 97 for its looped end 98, atransverse clearance opening 690 is provided into the body member ofconnector 20 with a tapered surface 69b so located within body member18, as shown in FIG. 4, that it provides a support for angular extension97 when contact element 90 is fitted in position within the body memberwith its card engaging portion 90 a adjacent to and in a coplanarrelationship with the card engaging portion 700 of contact element 70.The contact elements are maintained in frictional engagement withintheir respective openings by means of their alignment guide extensions76 and 96, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The pressure exerted by thecontact elements 70 and 90 against the terminal tabs 13 of the printedcircuit card 1 l as shown in FIG. 3 is quite critical to the effect ofthe electrical connection established therebetween. Because of thisfact, the contact elements 70 and 90 are so configured that theyuniformly exert high mechanical pressure upon the printed circuit cardterminal tabs 13. In order for the contact elements 70 and 90 to applyuniform pressure against the terminal tabs 13, it is necessary that theynot be overstressed. If the contact elements 70 and 90 are overstressed,they will not only exert a different amount of pressure upon theterminal tabs 13, each time a circuit card 1 1 is inserted, but afterseveral insertions of the circuit card 11, it is highly possible thatthe contact elements 70 and would fail to establish an adequateelectrical connection with the terminal tab 13. The possibility ofoverstressing the contact elements is quite high in instances wherepressure is immediately placed upon the contact elements when insertingthe circuit card. Accordingly, the upper edges of the longitudinal slot21 in the connector 20 extend above the contact elements for initiallyreceiving the inserted circuit card, thus aiding in preventingoverstressing of the contact elements 70 and 90. The thickness of theterminal tabs 13 on the sides of the printed circuit card is controlledsuch that when the circuit card is positioned in the longitudinal slot21 the card engaging portions of the contact elements will be urgedoutwardly a controlled amount which does not overstress the contactelements.

Furthermore, the inner openings 66 and outer openings 69 in the bottomof the connector 20 are accurately located and formed so as to properlyposition the pin receiving portions 70b and 90b of contact elements 70and 90 for engagement with the terminal pins of the memory stack and theinterconnecting jumper boards.

In FIG. 7 there is shown an end view of connector 20 in anotherembodiment in accordance with the present invention. The body member ofconnector 20 is also typically made of a high impact plastic and isformed in two parts. The bottom part 25 is moulded first and openings101 and 103 are formed so as to receive a set of four contact elementsincluding two of contact elements and two of contact elements 120. Thesecontact elements are inserted into the bottom half of the connector withtheir base portions aligned similar to the connector described inconnection with FIG. 5, and the top half 24 is then typically secured tothe bottom part 25 by means of a suitable adhesive or by ultrasonicwelding. Contact elements 110 and 120, which are more clearly shown inFIG. 8, each have pin contact portions l10b and 12% comprised of bowedstructures 1 12 and 122 providing a spring connection between theterminal pins of either the interconnecting jumper board or the memoryplane and the contact element itself. The circuit card engaging portions110a and 1200 of the contact elements 110 and that engage the printedcircuit card 11 are arcuate shaped portions 114 and 124 which provide aspringlike engagement between the contact element 110 and 120 and theprinted circuit card 11. These arcuate shaped portions 114 and 124 areextensions from the terminal pin receiving portions 11% and 12% of thecontact elements 110 and 120 and are angularly bent soas to be properlyaligned to engage the printed circuit card 11. Due to positioningrequirements, arcuate portion 114 has a greater angle than thecorresponding portion 124 of the contact element 120. This results fromthe requirement that the pin receiving portions be aligned in onedirection and the card engaging portions be aligned in a perpendiculardirection. The portions of the contact elements 110 and 120 that engagethe printed circuit card 11 are areas 116 and 126.

In FIG. 9 there is shown an end view of still another embodiment inaccordance with the present invention wherein a connector 20" is shownwith pairs of contact elements and positioned in aligned openings 151Fand 153 provided in the body of the invention. These contact elementswhich are more clearly shown in FIG. 10 are inserted into the connector20" from the top, and upon insertion, tab members 132 and 142 are bentover onto the bottom surface of the connector to hold the contactelements in place. This insures a good frictional relationship betweenthe contact elements and the connector 20 and restrains their movementsin the connector. Each of the contact elements 130 and 140 has a pinreceiving portion l30b and 14% which have bowed portions 134 and 144 ofan hour glass shape to act as a terminal pin contact and also to serveas an anti-wobble arrangement such that the terminal pins are notmovable when inserted into the respective contact elements. The printedcircuit card 11 engages the contact elements 130 and 140 at cardengaging portions 130a and 140a which are generally N-shaped and providea spring-like engagement between the contact elements and the circuitcard 11. Legs 137 and 147 of the N-shaped portions extend upward fromthe pin receiving portions and connect to resilient areas 138 and 148.The angle formed by leg 137 and resilient areas 138 is greater than theangle formed byJeg 147 and resilient area 148 in order that the pinreceiving portions 1301: and 14% of the elements are aligned in onedirection and the card engaging portions 130a and 140a are aligned in aperpendicular direction. The portions of the N-shaped card engagingareas that engage the printed circuit card 11 are areas 139 and 149.FIG. ll illustrates a modification to the contact element shown in FIG.in that it provides pin terminals 151m and 152m on the lower portion153b and l54b thereof in place of the pin receiving portions. The cardengaging portions 130a and 140a of the contact elements are the same asthose shown in the embodiment of FIG. 11. Cleats 155 are provided oneach of the pin terminals 151 and 152 to securely hold the terminals inthe openings provided in the body of the connector. With thismodification in the lower portion of the contact elements, the connector20" is able to mate with associated equipment provided with rows of pinreceiving contacts.

It is understood that various other omissions, substitutions and changesin the form and details of the systems illustrated and in theiroperation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore,to be limited only as indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A connector for establishing a connection between a circuit card androws of terminals on associated equipment disposed in a direction normalto the plane of said circuit card, said connector comprising: a bodymember having a top portion and a bottom portion, said body memberprovided with a longitudinal slot along the top portion thereof and aplurality of transverse rows of openings on the bottom portion thereof,said transverse rows of openings on the bottom portion thereof having ineach row a set of two outer contacts and a set of two inner contacts, aplurality of contact elements, said contact elements each having anupper portion and a lower portion, the upper portions of a first groupof said contact elements forming longitudinally adjacent coplanarcontacts on one side of said longitudinal slot, and the upper portionsof a second group of said contact elements forming an opposing pair oflongitudinally adjacent coplanar contacts on the other side of saidslot, and the lower portions of each of the contact elements of saidfirst and second groups of contact elements are positioned in one of aplurality of transverse rows of openings on the bottom portion of saidbody member, said contact elements in said body member being so arrangedsuch that the upper portions of said first group of saidcontact elementson one side of said longitudinal slot forms a group of two whichconfronts the upper portions of said second group of said contactelements so as to form an upper set of four adjacent contacts andarranged such that this upper contact configuration is transformed atthe lower portion of the said contact elements into a row of alignedcontacts which are situated in a row perpendicular to the longitudinalslot, and further arranged wherein for each row of aligned contacts thetwo lower outer contacts are connected to upper portions which are onopposite sides of the longitudinal slot and the two lower inner contactsare connected to upper portions of said contacts which are located onopposite sides of said longitudinal slot.

2. A connector for establishing a connection between a circuit card androws of terminals on associated equipment disposed in a direction normalto the plane of said circuit card, said connector comprising: a bodymemberhaving a top portion and a bottom portion, said body memberprovided with a longitudinal slot along the top portion thereof and aplurality of transverse rows of openings on the bottom portion thereof,a plurality of contact elements, said contact elements each having anupper portion and a lower portion, the upper portions of a first groupof said contact elements forming adjacent coplanar contacts on one sideof said longitudinal slot, and the upper portions of a second group ofsaid contact elements forming an opposing pair of adjacent coplanarcontacts on the other side of said slot, and the lower portions of eachof the contact elements of said first and said second groups of contactelements positioned in the openings comprising one of the transverserows of openings on the bottom portion of said body member;

wherein each transverse row of openings on the bottom portion of saidbody member comprises four openings, wherein said contact elements aredisposed within said body member such that the upper portions of a firstpair of said contact elements form adjacent coplanar contacts on oneside of said longitudinal slot, and the upper portions of a second pairof said contact elements form an opposing pair of adjacent coplanarcontacts on the other side of said slot, and wherein the lower portionsof each of the contact elements of said first and second pair of contactelements are positioned in the four openings comprising one of thetransverse rows of openings on the bottom portion of said body member;wherein the top and bottom portions of said body member are separatelymoulded and secured together after the contact elements are disposedtherein; wherein the lower portions of each of the contact elementsconnected to one of the coplanar contacts on either side of the slotform inner positional contacts on said row and wherein the lowerportions of each of the contact elements connected to the other one ofthe coplanar contacts on either side of the slot form outer positionalcontacts on said row; wherein at least two of the lower portions of saidcontact elements positioned in said transverse row of four openings areconnected by angular extensions to their respective coplanar contactsformed on the upper portions of said contact elements; wherein the innertwo openings of said transverse row of four openings are provided withside clearance openings to enable angular extensions on contact elementshaving their lower portions in the outer two openings to be insertedinto the body member.

1 l II

1. A connector for establishing a connection between a circuit card androws of terminals on associated equipment disposed in a direction normalto the plane of said circuit card, said connector comprising: a bodymember having a top portion and a bottom portion, said body memberprovided with a longitudinal slot along the top portion thereof and aplurality of transverse rows of openings on the bottom portion thereof,said transverse rows of openings on the bottom portion thereof having ineach row a set of two outer contacts and a set of two inner contacts, aplurality of contact elements, said contact elements each having anupper portion and a lower portion, the upper portions of a first groupof said contact elements forming longitudinally adjacent coplanarcontacts on one side of said longitudinal slot, and the upper portionsof a second group of said contact elements forming an opposing pair oflongitudinally adjacent coplanar contacts on the other side of saidslot, and the lower portions of each of the contact elements of saidfirst and second groups of contact elements are positioned in one of aplurality of transverse rows of openings on the bottom portion of saidbody member, said contact elements in said body member being so arrangedsuch that the upper portions of said first group of said contactelements on one side of said longitudinal slot forms a group of twowhich confronts the upper portions of said second group of said contactelements so as to form an upper set of four adjacent contacts andarranged such that this upper contact configuration is transformed atthe lower portion of the said contact elements into a row of alignedcontacts which are situated in a row perpendicular to the longitudinalslot, and further arranged wherein for each row of aligned contacts thetwo lower outer contacts are connected to upper portions which are onopposite sides of the longitudinal slot and the two lower inner contactsare connected to upper portions of said contacts which are located onopposite sides of said longitudinal slot.
 2. A connector forestablishing a connection between a circuit card and rows of terminalson associated equipment disposed in a direction normal to the plane ofsaid circuit card, said connector comprising: a body member having a topportion and a bottom portion, said body member provided with alongitudinal slot along the top portion thereof and a plurality oftransverse rows of openings on the bottom portion thereof, a pluralityof contact elements, said contact elements each having an upper portionand a lower portion, the upper portions of a first group of said contactelements forming adjacent coplanar contacts on one side of saidlongitudinal slot, and the upper portions of a second group of saidcontact elements forming an opposing pair of adjacent coplanar contactson the other side of said slot, and the lower portions of each of thecontact elements of said first and said second groups of contactelements positioned in the openings comprising one of the transverserows of openings on the bottom portion of said body member; wherein eachtransverse row of openings on the bottom portion of said body membercomprises four openings, wherein said contact elements are disposedwithin said body member such that the upper portions of a first pair ofsaid contact elements form adjacent coplanar contacts on one side ofsaid longitudinal slot, and the upper portions of a second pair of saiDcontact elements form an opposing pair of adjacent coplanar contacts onthe other side of said slot, and wherein the lower portions of each ofthe contact elements of said first and second pair of contact elementsare positioned in the four openings comprising one of the transverserows of openings on the bottom portion of said body member; wherein thetop and bottom portions of said body member are separately moulded andsecured together after the contact elements are disposed therein;wherein the lower portions of each of the contact elements connected toone of the coplanar contacts on either side of the slot form innerpositional contacts on said row and wherein the lower portions of eachof the contact elements connected to the other one of the coplanarcontacts on either side of the slot form outer positional contacts onsaid row; wherein at least two of the lower portions of said contactelements positioned in said transverse row of four openings areconnected by angular extensions to their respective coplanar contactsformed on the upper portions of said contact elements; wherein the innertwo openings of said transverse row of four openings are provided withside clearance openings to enable angular extensions on contact elementshaving their lower portions in the outer two openings to be insertedinto the body member.